Change Tattooing
Change Tattooing is both a resource and the start of a movement to improve the safety of the tattooing industry and culture from the inside out, in respect to sexual abuse and social intolerance.
Background
There have been several instances since the late 2010s of tattooists being publicly outed as being sexually abusive and harassing to their clients. It is by no means a new issue in tattooing or one that is improving. It is only that recently, survivors have been empowered by similar movements in other cultures to be public about their experiences, and have these experiences heard. Despite this there is still both a tolerance for and enablement of sexual abuse and harassment in the attitudes of tattooists and the organisation of the tattooing process.
The predominant dynamic of the sexual abuse that has been made public is by male tattooists to female clients. However this is by no means an accurate and complete representation of the types and cases of sexual abuse and harassment that go on in tattooing. The predominant dynamic of publication and addressing this abuse, in my experience, has been by female victims against male tattooists. In fact, in my experience, female attitudes to sexual abuse in tattooing seem to be predominantly and vocally against it, and male attitudes seem to be predominantly (but not exclusively) neutral or defensive. This is especially true when it comes to the reactions of male tattooists, as I have observed, which have predominantly been either uninterested, invalidating or demonstrating feelings of being attacked over feelings of wanting change.
As a white heterosexual male tattooist, I want to be able to use the position and insight that I have to create something that is practically able to set a template for change in the tattooing industry. I want to create something that is also able to educate people so that they can more safely navigate the world of tattooing, and is able to begin a movement of change to the industry by setting out guidelines, good practices and a safe way to tattoo, in a space where there have before been no resources or regulations of this kind.
The strength of the tattoo industry’s perpetuation of sexual abuse is in the conspiracy of inaction and the lack of insight given into what is right and what is wrong in tattooing. To begin to change tattooing, we need to change these pillars.
The first point of change
It is important for me to emphasise clearly that the actions that are the problem, the acts of sexual abuse and the culture of protecting it, are predominantly the actions of male tattooists and the people who support or enable their actions. There is no problem with the way that clients conduct themselves that is conducive to sexual assault or attempts at it. There is no situation where sexual assault is justified by any action or communication. A lack of consent is a lack of consent. The problem of sexual assault and harassment in tattooing first and foremost needs to be changed and it needs to be changed by the people perpetrating and enabling it. The burden of responsibility, for the action and for the change, is not solely on the victims, but also on the perpetrators.
In practical terms this means predominantly straight white male tattooists changing how they run their business. This is to be done in conjunction with victims of this kind of abuse for the purpose of having their insight into what needs to be changed.
This is a change in:
The second point of change
As mentioned previously, the burden of change is on the abusers and perpetrators of the problem, not on the victims to adjust to their ways of being. However, for the present, that change has not happened and most studios and tattoo processes have, even if they have never practically approached being abusive or transgressive, ways of doing things that lay the groundwork for the possibility of sexual harassment and its disavowal.
In this case, educating clients to the tattooing process and what safeguards they can put in place themselves to avoid engaging with a tattooist who has the potential to become problematic, is still a useful tool to help prevent it happening.
Change Tattooing as a resource
One of the main pillars that holds up the possibility for sexual abuse to occur in tattooing is the lack of information around the tattooing process, which leads onto the ability of the tattooist to control the actions of their clients and invalidate their opposition under the guise that they know more about the tattooing process and so can dictate what is and isn’t acceptable. This attitude is furthered by the corroboration of other tattooists, fans of tattooing, and the general culture that is perpetuated in tattoo studios.
So my aim with Change Tattooing is to create an accessible single place of information about tattooing, specifically information about sexual abuse in tattooing, and a neutral platform within the tattooing industry that can help guide people through the world of tattooing.
Practically this means documents and posts sharing information about the tattooing process; what is needed for tattooing, what is not needed and is potentially abusive, potential indications of wrongdoing, and what a safe studio practice looks like.
This means a platform where you can privately bring questions and ask for information around tattooing and certain situations, with impartial guidance from people with an insight into tattooing, sexual abuse prevention and issues for people of different genders, sexualities and ethnicities.
This means a place where connections to other people and platforms working towards the same goals can be collected and presented for people to have a concerted place to go for help and guidance.
Change Tattooing as cultural change
Another significant pillar that holds up the possibility for the perpetuation of sexual abuse in tattooing is a conspiracy of inaction from people, more specifically men, inside the industry. To address this pillar, there needs to be an impetus for change and a defined way of carrying out that change. There also needs to be people who actually make that change.
This can be done in two ways. First, by holding sexual abusers publicly accountable and bringing in the repercussions to their actions that are largely missing in the tattoo industry, namely, that people don’t get work from them. There are platforms outside of this that are already doing the difficult and painful work of doing this, especially within a culture that is currently so hostile to blame and accountability, and are mostly, from my experience, run by survivors of sexual abuse.
It is not the place of Change Tattooing to do this kind of work. Being the type of person that I am and not having an insight, or indeed authority, to be able to talk about sexual abuse in the way that these platforms do, it is not the place of Change Tattooing to do something that is already being done much better and more bravely than it could do. However, Change Tattooing does fully and practically support these platforms and their work, and will encourage people to use these platforms in the same way to help them guide themselves through the world of tattooing.
Instead, I want to focus on the second way of changing the existing culture of tattooing. That is by setting out a positive, safe way of tattooing, working in that way and sharing that way to as many people as possible in the hope that they will, for the safety and assurance of their clients, adopt it. It is also useful for people to be able to see what a safe and conscientious tattooing process may look like and to seek that out for their own benefit.
The idea is to focus on the positive elements and tattooists already present in tattooing culture and to promote those as a way forward for the rest of us.
The limitations of Change Tattooing
It is important for me and others to be aware that no-one, especially me, is the authority on what is and isn’t right in the world of tattooing and sexual abuse. I am an outsider to sexual abuse and the feelings and experiences that go along with it. I have worked and will always work on this resource with the significant input of my wife, the people who I am working on this project with, and my clients and followers.
I also recognise that as a white heterosexual male I am in a limited position to understand the experiences of different types of people and the emotions that come along with that. As such I have the responsibility to educate myself about these things, and it is from that perspective; with my own research and the help and perspective of others, that I have formulated the content of this resource.
With this perspective in mind, I will never make any claim that the resource or ideas in it are authoritative over others, or that it is complete. It will always be under revision, change and adaptation as I learn more and receive more input from different people.
In this sense, the suggestions made are not definitive guarantees of protection from sexual abuse, or the only ways in which, for example, you can make a studio a safe space. They are just one way in which I have collated experiences and ideas to form a cohesive plan for change. However, being one of many ways of changing does not invalidate the ideas, they have all in one way or another come from real experiences and real emotions. It is just the first, hopefully of many, way of changing for the better.
I think it is important for creating the impetus for change, and on a moral level, that even though I am very much outside of a position to have an insight into the many painful implications of sexual abuse and harassment, and the experiences of anyone who is not a white straight heterosexual male, that I use the position that I have, and my insights as a tattooist, to try to begin change from the inside of the problem, rather than leaving it to others and not trying to help because it is not my problem and I don’t naturally understand it or belong to it.
It is through education and communicating and sharing with others that the boundaries that prevent cohesive efforts at change can be broken. I have said that the issue is predominantly a problem with men, and it is, and that it is up to men to solve it, and it is. But it is ultimately for everyone to fix together, and it will be fixed faster when there is a collective front of people working together indiscriminately against one issue that, directly or indirectly, will affect every type of person.